Canucks fans toss Chinook salmon onto ice to honor dead son

A member of the Vancouver Canucks ice crew scoops up a salmon after it was thrown onto the ice Saturday. (Rich Lam/Getty Images)

After 30-year-old Garrett Paquette died in an ATV accident in November, his family and friends knew just how to honor him.

By throwing a Chinook salmon onto the ice during a Vancouver Canucks game, of course.

It couldn’t be any old Canucks game; Paquette had been planning to pull the very same stunt at this past Saturday’s game against the Toronto Maple Leafs, his favorite team. So when he died, the Nanaimo Daily News reported, his father decided to follow through on the plan in memory of his son.

Roger Paquette had experience in fish-tossing — in fact, he gave Garrett the idea. Inspired by the famed octopus-tossing tradition of Detroit Red Wings fans, Roger threw a B.C. salmon on the ice last season during a Canucks playoff game versus the Calgary Flames, according to the Daily News. He wanted to start a new tradition in Vancouver.

As Saturday’s game approached, and Garrett was no longer around, Roger and some of Garrett’s friends planned a Chinook-chucking trip from Nanaimo, on Vancouver Island, to the big city. At their Vancouver hotel, the Daily News reported, three of them — Roger and his son’s friends Joey Smith and Blake Simpson — strapped vacuum-wrapped salmon to their chests and got ready for the game.

They were worried about security patting them down, and that the fish stench might give them away, but they made it into the arena. They waited until just a few minutes were left in the third period, the Daily News said, then Simpson grabbed one of the fish by the gills and tossed it onto the ice.

The fans cheered. The TV announcers laughed. Quickly, the three men changed outfits and blended in with the crowd.